William Grut

Perfection may be an aspiration but it is often not a realistic goal for pentathletes, such is the complexity and range of their sport. But William Grut produced a near-flawless performance across the five disciplines when he became Olympic champion in Modern Pentathlon.

Grut was born on September 17, 1914 to Torben Grut, the architect who designed the 1912 Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, and Margit Torssell, the daughter of the Norwegian opera singer Olefine Moe. He graduated in May 1932 but his prospects were limited by the stock market crash. Instead Grut chose a career in the Army, where training was free and he could fulfil his desire to contribute to his country's defence.

As a captain in the Swedish Artillery, Grut had plenty of opportunity to train in the five Modern Pentathlon disciplines, and he made the most of every opportunity: Running, Riding and Swimming every single day, Fencing three times a week and Shooting during his lunch breaks.

In February 1948, Grut took part in the Winter Olympic Games held in St Moritz. He was a member of the Swedish Winter Pentathlon team, together with Claes Egnell, Gustaf Lindh and Bertil Haase. The team competed in an exhibition event, which consisted of downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, shooting, fencing and riding. Lindh won gold and Grut won silver.

Less than six months later, Grut arrived in London for the Summer Olympic Games very well prepared. His Swedish team mates were Gösta Gärdin and Sune Wehlin. Grut had an element of luck in drawing a good horse, Clarian Boy, and he went on to achieve his best-ever competition result.

Modern Pentathlon scores were calculated according to ranking in each event in those days (the lower the score, the better), and Grut's final result was 1+1+5+1+8=16, an unbroken record. Grut was therefore a worthy champion of the Olympic Modern Pentathlon and – allied to his achievements in swimming and in the Winter Pentathlon – he won Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet gold medal, which recognises the outstanding sporting performer of the year.

Grut stopped competing after London and took over as trainer of the Swedish Modern Pentathlon team, coaching Lars Hall, who went on to win Olympic gold in Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956. In 1960, Grut was elected Secretary General of the International Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon Union (UIPMB) and held the post for 24 years. In 1960 in Rome he served as flagbearer for Sweden at the Summer Olympics. In his spare time Grut took up golf, which brought him immense pleasure in later life. He reached a handicap of 12.

At Karlberg military academy, Grut's instructor had advised his young cadets to "pursue sports until the day you die, but do not let sports be the death of you" – a piece of advice Grut took to heart and abided by all his life. He was 98 when he died on November 20, 2012, having lived just long enough to see two more Olympic champions crowned in London, just as he had been 64 years previously.